The Lafayette advertiser. [volume] (Vermilionville [i.e. Lafayette], La.) 1865-19??, 1887-05-07
"How does she stand2"
:'Sou' by east, sir

''Sou' by east, sir.
That was all right; that was the course
Dunham had put her on.
He went to the paddle-box and signaled
the engine to stop. Then he called man
and, had the lead thrown. Twenty four.
Plenty of water" thought Durham, and
Captains cabin and knocked. The Cap
tain did not hear the first time, and he
knocked again.
"Who's there9"
s'The mate"
The Captain opened a port near the
head of his berth, and asked him what
the matter was. Dunham reported. The
Captain told him it was all right; that it
was foggy, and the rear Of the surf Hlth
~ & on. Id. ss--.... s..s,
Aea ssss,iIes. Durh4ss 4afher q lit 1T
50, w. and went away Duriag shis
parley, and while the mate stopped a few
minutes to look after things befpw, the
ship had made more than two miles hesdr
way. BY the time Durham got on deck
again the roar of the surf was frightfn.
HE fairly screamed at shehelmsn1a3
( s'Abbott ~
GAY, ay, sir.n
CLOVIS her head? ~
ssSou' by east, sir.
Amazingi Dunham ran to the p4
box and jerked signal. The en CINE
stopped. Then he rushed to the Cap
tain's door and called him out in the
name of the gods Both few on eek.
There was no mistake about It'll here
were the breakers not half a miles s4head,
Judging by the sound, thtinderisE and
boiling against the shore. Dun.Gnn had
almost run the ships head on shere, and
that, too, when she was sholdiag pre-
cisely the same course by compass that
he had put her on fifty times before.
The Captain roared: what's her
course2"
"Sou' by east, sir. =
'sPut her sou,west.n
"Sou'west, sir, y echoed the man at the
wheel, and the wheel spun round and the
chains ratified. The Captain rushed to
the signal-bell and started the engine,
and got the ship under good steering
headway. Scarcely. had she starteflsen
her new course when a scfaping sound
was heard and felt then bamp, bump,
bump, as though the ship had been lifted
up and set down hard three times; then
( a crash that sent the captain and mate on
their faces, and brought the smoke-
stacks crashing through the decks, and
and snapped off the topsnasfs like pipe
stems. The ship had struck a hunken
rock, and began to ell 1t once
Who got to shore, and how fheI got to
shore, matters not ft IS ti1s=ssss1fI u I
story. The news spread on wings. Men
came and dragged the swollen corpses of
their friends out of the surf, or dug them
out of the sand, or identified them in the
shed, or paced the beach day after day,
| looking out on the remorselcss sea that
sullenly clung to its dead.
The captain and the wheelman, Alb
! bott, went to Portland together-Dun-
ham they never found-and there they
talked over the strange affair and ex-
hausted all their ingenuity in vain to ac-
count for the loss of the ship when on
the right course on a still night. When
the wrecking-tug was ready, they went
out to the wreck. 1t still hung on the
rocks. The bows were high out of water.
The two men climbed up into the wheel
house They unscrewed the compasss-box
from its fastening and brought it on
shore. There they opened it, and lifted
up the card and needle, and there lay the
little instrument of death-a broken
knife blade.
The handle and the rest of the blade
were in little joey Dunham's pocket. He
had tried to pry out the glass, to see what
made the card swing around so when he
held his knife by it, and in doing so had
broken the blade He concealed his
mischief and stole away.-AryOnam.